Memeorandum

February 28, 2013

Sequestration Follies

As elements of the Mass Hysteria Media question their role in promoting Obama's 'Apocalpyse Now' approach to the upcoming sequester, even the NY Times finds itself wondering about its commitment to cheerleading against the sequester.

First, they point out that there are liberals who love the idea of cutting defense and sparing entitlements:

WASHINGTON — With time running short and little real effort under way to
avert automatic budget cuts that take effect Friday, substantial and
growing wings of both parties are learning to live with — if not love —
the so-called sequester.

...

For weeks, President Obama has barnstormed the country, warning of the
dire consequences of the cuts to military readiness, educators, air
travel and first responders even as the White House acknowledges that
some of the disruptions will take weeks to emerge.

The reverse side has gone unmentioned: Some of the most liberal members
of Congress see the cuts as a rare opportunity to whittle down Pentagon
spending. The poor are already shielded from the worst of the cuts, and
the process could take pressure off the Democratic Party, at least in
the short run, to tamper with Social Security and Medicare.

My, my. The Times also wonders about the devastation we should expect at one minute after midnight of the sequestration. Or even one month...

WASHINGTON — President Obama’s
team concedes that the almost certain arrival of across-the-board
budget cuts on Friday will not immediately produce the politically
dramatic layoffs and airport delays that the administration has been
warning about for days.

But White House strategists say they believe that a constant drip of bad
news will emerge in Congressional districts across the country in the
weeks ahead, generating negative headlines and, they hope, putting
Republicans on the defensive for their refusal to raise taxes.

The mission of the Mass Hysteria Media is clear - somewhere out there a granny will be eating catfood or have a cat stuck in a tree because of the sequester, and it is their job to find that person, or cat, and bring them to John Boehner.

Yet the Times seems to be having a bit of angst about their assignment:

In accepting the inevitability of an extended Washington stalemate, the
White House is risking the possibility that Americans may eventually
blame the president, not members of Congress, for job losses, smaller
paychecks, longer lines at airports, a reduction in government services
and a less well-equipped military.

Mr. Obama could also ultimately emerge as a kind of president who cried
wolf if Americans just shrug at the slow-rolling budget cuts and think
the crisis atmosphere that he created was more hype than reality. On
Wednesday night, the president acknowledged to a group of business
leaders that “a lot of people may not notice the full impact of the
sequester” for weeks.

Well, yes, the public may think the President cried wolf and the media played along.

The battle lines are clear:

Republicans are trying to make the case to the American public that the
president and his staff are trying to frighten people by overstating how
difficult it will be for government agencies to trim their spending.
Mr. Boehner said in an interview on Wednesday on the CBS program “This
Morning” that the president had “traveled over 5,000 miles in the last
two weeks doing campaign-style events,” adding, “this is a time to
lead.”

Every news organization covering this has gone through cutbacks in the last few years. Yet they are now supposed to report to us that the provision of basic services will end if the government is cut back to funding levels last seen in, oh, 2008. One worries about an impending botox shortage as anchormen strain to keep a straight face.

I wonder if radio silence occurred due to gogol pulling their ads? Typhuspad's "everyday low price" (the price is actually commensurate with the quality) is offset by their TOS inclusion of the right to insert ads. Is gogol tinkering with blog assassination as a sideline to its main political activity?

I wonder if radio silence occurred due to gogol pulling their ads? Typhuspad's "everyday low price" (the price is actually commensurate with the quality) is offset by their TOS inclusion of the right to insert ads. Is gogol tinkering with blog assassination as a sideline to its main political activity?

jimmyK-- doesn't take much imagination what punk Sperling's original threat was. "You'd better get back in line Woodward you old fool... otherwise we'll cut WaPo out completely, and when your editors call to complain we'll tell them its Woodward's fault. And remember, WE own the media, we'll cut you up just like we did to Hillary, and Petraeus and McCrystal. Don't think we can do it? We got Stevens killed and you never hear his name in the media anymore. Just try us old man." Something like that.

Has anyone else thought about how letting out illegal immigrant convicts to make a point about the sequester makes the 2nd amendment "you don't need arms because you have police protection" seem just that much more arbitrary, We will protect who we like, where we like is more like it.

The group is also expanding beyond it's ed message that TX is supposed to be getting on board with-a student centered approach to be college and career ready like the other states. But its materials now expressly mention immigration reform just like the jobs link.

Right now where the mainstream reps want to go is anathema for legitimate reasons to so many. And Rick speaking of your ruling families reference earlier, apparently son George did the intro at the TX get on board political get-together.

I think we have a real problem with good people who think their personal good intentions mean they have no duty to match up what they advocate for with what is really coming. And conflicts of interest are simply how former politicians without a law license support themselves.

gee, I never got to Jane's site. Just back from a luncheon featuring Ramirez. Funny guy and very smart. Good manner of speaking as well.

We have so much ammunition against these grifters and yet it all seems to be overwhelmed by the mass adulation of the media for the grifter in chief.

The Woodward/Davis brouhaha may be crack in the facade. Obama is willing to lie, stonewall, use executive privilege and subvert the law to get his agenda through.

NK, going after the WaPo is a very bad idea. When the house biographer who has gone through 7 administrations calls you a weasel, perhaps it is time to make peace.

However, as the hagiography linked on P1 of this thread notes, Obama is a mean, vindictive, uncompromising prick full of hissown self, as they used to say. That is the Obama we need to encourage; enough so that even his Low info voters can't stand his sorry ass.

Nothing ever changes in Fnorkville. There is some news of political interest - Snyder is taking over Kwametown tomorrow, Italy now has a real clown show for a government (the result of the electorate demonstrating exactly how "What difference does it make?" works out electorally) and those crazy college kids are now defaulting on student debt at a rate higher than the typical dead beat credit card defaulter.

A friend of mine told me he once saw Bob Woodward with his family and he approached him for an autograph. Woodward broke down and continually cried " take it all, whatever's in my wallet take it,take my wife and child but please for the love of God don't harm me". My friend apoligized and left. He said Woodward had pissed his panties.

Last spring, ASU established the McCain Institute for International Leadership. As summarized by this week’s Bloomberg News article, the Institute is active and advancing important dialogues related to foreign policy, national security and humanitarianism. ASU is proud to work with Senator McCain and the McCain family to promote informed analysis, discussion, decision-making and governance. As always, your observations and ideas are welcome.

RickB-- very astute linking of recent headlines. We are here-- we have arrived-- OPM has RUN OUT. Hear that DD-- soon no welfare $$ for your booze, butts and medicaid for you. Nada. Witching hour is here.

Gay marriage advocates take note of a new ally in your war for legitimacy as the pit bulls and those who love them constituency makes its bid for marriage equality, and why shouldn't they?
After all having sex with a consenting schnauser is a civil right just like Rosa Parks sitting in front of the bus, right?

Good idea jimmy.
Pistol Pistorious can also use Joe to demonstrate it is impossible to harm anyone with a cricket bat to the head no matter how hard you try.
What can't Joe do? Expert firearms witness in the morning and back as a crash test dummy in the afternoon session.

Any chance that the LIV's will take notice that all the sequester horror stories, like all the state government horror stories, talk about "furloughs," not layoffs? In the real world, when your company goes deep into the red and needs to stop the bleeding, the people who are now paying an additional 2% to fund government get fired. They don't get a temporary pay cut with three-day weekends.

Also the furlough plans indicate that nobody has any intention of actually cutting the size of government operations; once this temporary political bump in the road is past everyone is back to full time and the gravy train goes on. When redundant departments and bureaus are eliminated and government employees are actually told to find jobs in the private sector, that will be a start. I ain't holding my breath.

As the hagiography linked on P1 of this thread notes, Obama is a mean, vindictive, uncompromising prick full of hissown self

The optimist would note that the work of getting word out about Obama is made easier by the fact that he insists on presenting himself as a mean, vindictive, uncompromising prick even towards those who would write hagiographies for him.

The pessimist would respond that the work is made impossible by the fact that the press insists on writing hagiographies for him even while Obama is presenting himself as a mean, vindictive, uncompromising prick.

CH, my initial surprise at the Brady deal was that Brady seemed to be taking a below market deal for a player of his stature. However, follow up reports indicate that Brady's guaranteed money increased significantly next year. That makes the deal more understandable. If Brady takes a career ending hit next year, he's better off.

"The Supreme Court on Monday declined the Republican National Committee's request to lift a three-decade-old court order that limits the national GOP's ability to challenge voters' eligibility at the polls.

The case, Republican National Committee vs. Democratic National Committee, dealt with a consent decree issued in 1982 that prevents the RNC from engaging in some voter fraud prevention efforts without prior court consent. It specifically said the RNC could not engage in ballot security efforts (later defined in 1987 as “ballot integrity, ballot security or other efforts to prevent or remedy vote fraud,” according to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit opinion), especially in areas where racial or ethnic makeup could be considered a reason for the activities.

The lawyer who handled the case for the DNC, Angelo Genova, welcomed the high court's action.

"The Supreme Court, in denying a writ of certiorari in this case, reaffirms the vital necessity of the original consent decree," Genova said in a statement. "The order remains integral to enforcing critical protections against minority voter suppression throughout our nation, protections that as are important today as they were thirty years ago.""

"Had the GOP not carried the House in November we would already have had a tax increase."

From McClintock:

Two years ago, Congress passed the so-called “The Budget Control Act” that authorized the biggest single expansion of debt in our nation’s history.

Just in the first four weeks of this year, Congress added more than a third of a trillion dollars of new spending to this crushing burden.

The fiscal cliff deal added $300 billion of new spending and the Hurricane Sandy bill added another $50 billion – more than 90 percent of which had nothing to do with emergency relief for storm victims. Earlier this month, Congress simply did away with the debt limit altogether until mid-May.

It is only Feb. We will get all those tax increases, and more, before they are done.

There is not going to be any serious cutting of actual spending. There will be a temporary slacking of increases to spending.

My goodness, the whole melodrama about sequestration is over an absolutely miniscule cut in the rate of increase in spending. Real cuts? Forget it. There are only about three ways to deal with this: borrow, debase the currency and raise taxes. (in effect, they all are really taxes.)

All of this talk about "fiscal responsibility" out of the GOP turns out to be some much hot air--more political theater and electioneering hogwash.

The GOP will cave and cave again, some thinking, comically, that this will help their election chances in the "New America" (Boy, are they wrong) , some caving because at heart they are liberals too, or at least statists, and some caving because of fear of the GOP political machinery. Those whole have some decency and actual principles will be suffer endless pillory and blamed for the upcoming GOP disaster in '14.

The GOP strategy is coming from the establishment, and they are out in the open now. It is impossible not to miss it.

They are no bulwark against this communist coup. It is only the rate of national suicide that differs.

The Democrats are out to finally destroy the GOP. THe GOP is handing it to them. Hardly a man among them.

WTH is this refresh taking you to the top of the comments business? Anyone know how to fix that?

When you click on a page past page 1 in JOM, if you look at the address, (the part that starts out http://justoneminute.typepad.com/main/2013/....) you will see that the end of it goes "/comments/page/2/#comments" (or a higher number than two for a higher page.)

The "#comments" is the command to go to the top of the comments.

To get it to stop doing that, you have to make the "#comments" go away. First, make note of the time stamp on the comment that you are looking at. Then go up into the address field and delete the "#comments" part. After you do that, hit Return. Now you will be at the top of the page. Roll down to the timestamp that you noted in step one. From now on, when you Refresh it will be refreshing the address without the "#comments" at the end, and it will return to the spot you were at.

When we get a page 3, go up as soon as you start reading page 3 and get rid of the "#comments" in the address. Then you will be good to go for the rest of the page.

why has no one challenged either side and asked "Why?". I was always the kid who asked why, and teachers hated me. But it is the job of the press to ask and the obligation of the politicians to answer.

1 - Why can't you cut the debt?

2 - Why can't you understand the debt is unsustainable?

3 - Why do you chase gun control when you know it is mental health and the culture of violence that is responsible?

4 - Why, when the Founders were pellucid on the meaning of the 2nd Amendment as a tool to fight the repression of a tyrannical government, do you support gun control?

The same mood was expressed at the luncheon of republican Women today, square. Out here in the provinces, people are sick and tired of Washington.

The governors are, I believe, going to take the money and run on Obamacare. It lasts 3 years and then is gone and they all know it. What then? The burden falls on the states, so what are they going to do? But in the meantime it allows creeps like jerry Brown to expand the gravy train to hundreds of thousands of potential Democrat voters.

Most people simply don't realize how screwed they are, and they are still blaming the Republicans.

When nobody went to jail for that I knew that the country's willingness to accept a mass slaughter by the state, ostensibly to "protect the children" who were burned to death, didn't speak well for us.

ISTR they were sued by someone claiming they tricked her (or got her drunk) into participating. But really, that sort of business is going the way of newspapers and magazines. Too many free alternatives. Or so I hear.

Deficits of over one trillion dollars for several years in a row, IOW borrowing a third or more of what they spend, has not caused either party to even be slightly serious about containing the dragon so I'm approaching my Hillary moment on who controls the government; does it really matter?
We're heading toward a cliff and neither party shows any inclination to step on the brakes. Our choice is a maniac with the pedal on the floor or a grinning dunce with it halfway down.

The Republican party is itself a response to the death of another over its refusal to listen to the so called fanatics who wished to do the right, but seemingly politically inexpedient thing. Who does history judge to have been right?

The idea that a vacuum long persists in politics or that what follows a fractured ineffectual and foolishly led party is necessarily weaker, is not historically accurate.
People don't leave strong parties; they leave ones immolating themselves, usually when half of it refuses to govern by any discernible principles any longer.

After reading about Kagan and Sotomayor and their attack on Antonin Scalia, I have to bite my tongue to keep from hurling insults of a gynecological nature. When did Sandra Day O'Connor bring such shame on the court?
Gag!

Most people simply don't realize how screwed they are, and they are still blaming the Republicans.

The 2010 midterms had one overriding message; Stop the spending. Shortly after the elections, Hugh Hewitt had Paul Ryan on his show and was urging him to be more aggressive in that area. Ryan assured him that it would be done in the future and that they should be judged by it.